How To Become A Microsoft MVP

Perhaps The Most Elusive Honor A Microsoft Expert Can Get

As Microsoft celebrates 23 years of the MVP program in 2016, which a big move to update the program to reflect the new technologies that now make the make of Microsoft and also the sunsetting of older technologies, it’s very interesting to note that there are currently only 4,000 Microsoft MVPs around the world. Why are they so few? How does one become one?

The History

The Microsoft MVP program started in 1993 and is the brainchild of a Microsoft employee named Calvin Hsia who one day came up with a fun idea to download, organize and tabulate hundreds of daily Microsoft forum messages and come up with a list of top contributors on those forums. He called them the forum’s “Most Verbose People”!

Microsoft saw value in that verbosity, so much so that the members of “Calvin’s List,” along with its creator, became Microsoft’s first Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). As part of the launch of the program, the MVP Award was created in 1993 to thank exceptional, independent community leaders who — often verbosely — share their passion, technical expertise and real-world knowledge of Microsoft products with others

In 2016, 23 years after the launch of the program, Microsoft has to date honored 4,000 professionals, across 90 technologies. This group altogether reach over 1 million Microsoft customers through social media, in forums, at user group gatherings and as presenters at technology conferences around the world.

How To Become One

As mentioned on the Microsoft MVP website, while there is no official benchmark to become an MVP, a few rules apply. Some of the criteria used to evaluate if an individual qualifies, include the impact of a nominee’s contributions to online forums such as Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN; wikis and online content; conferences and user groups; podcasts, Web sites, blogs and social media; and articles and book. Each nominee’s contributions are compared to those of other candidates, and active MVPs receive the same level of analysis as new candidates each year.

So in a statement, your active participation of Microsoft’s forums, and social media properties should land you a nomination into the MVP program. When your nomination has been vetted . . .who knows, you just might be the next MVP!!